Danyelle Means Joins Joan Mitchell Foundation Board

We are pleased to announce the appointment of arts leader Danyelle Means to the Joan Mitchell Foundation's Board of Directors. Means currently serves as the Executive Director of the Center for Contemporary Arts (CCA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a position she has held since 2021. She has previously held leadership roles at the Institute of American Indian Arts and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian. Means was raised on the Rosebud Reservation and is a proud member of the Oglala Lakota tribe in South Dakota. Throughout her career, she has centered advancement and support for BIPOC professionals and artists. Board members serve three-year terms, with a maximum of two consecutive terms. Means joins the current eight-member board, which includes Jean Shin, President; Miranda Lash, Vice President; Linda Usdin, Dr.PH., Secretary; Sandy S. Lee, Treasurer; Marc Chennault; Jim Coddington; Kemi Ilesanmi; and Juan Sánchez.

“Danyelle is incredibly knowledgeable in and engaged with contemporary art dialogues and curatorial practices. She has consistently placed artists at the core of her work, emphasizing in particular Native practitioners and communities. Her range of expertise and keen insights will greatly enhance the Board’s work in supporting the Foundation’s dual mission, which includes both advancing scholarship about Joan Mitchell and providing critical career support for today’s artists,” said Christa Blatchford, Executive Director of the Joan Mitchell Foundation. “We are very much looking forward to working with Danyelle, and to learning from her valuable experiences and perspectives.

“It is an honor to be invited to serve as a member of the Board of Directors of the Joan Mitchell Foundation. Mitchell's legacy and the work of the Foundation are an important part of providing access and support to artists at the margins as well as the mainstream. I look forward to offering my expertise and insights as an Indigenous curator and leader in the arts,” said Danyelle Means.

About Danyelle Means
Danyelle Means is the Executive Director of the Center for Contemporary Arts (CCA), a grassroots organization dedicated to celebrating creativity across the arts, humanities, and sciences and to advancing the cultural landscape of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Means is the first person of Indigenous heritage to lead the organization in its 40-year history. Prior to joining CAA, Means served as the Director of Advancement at the Institute of American Indian Arts and the Executive Director of the Institute of American Indian Arts Foundation. During her tenure, the organization reached its highest fundraising benchmarks and successfully shifted its programmatic offerings and efforts to digital platforms during the pandemic.

Means also has a wide range of museum experience, including at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). There, she participated in the development of several of the inaugural exhibitions for the Heye Center in New York, and oversaw the development of To Honor and Comfort: Native Quilting Traditions. As an independent museum consultant, she co-curated the 2019-2020 CUNY-QCC exhibition: Survivance and Sovereignty on Turtle Island at the Kupferberg Holocaust Center. She is on the board of ArtTable, the New Mexico Association of Museums, and a member of the Santa Fe Children’s Museum DEAI Advisory Board. She holds a ​​Master of Arts in Museum Studies from Marist College/Instituto Lorenzo de’ Medici, Florence, Italy (ABT), and a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and French from University of South Dakota.

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